A MOMENT FOR MISSION
"And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." – Romans 5:5, NRSV
Today is Peace with Justice Sunday, one of United Methodism's six Special Sundays. Our gifts support ministries that promote peace and advocate justice. We support peace and justice because true and lasting peace cannot exist in the presence of injustice.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."
Our giving today supports work in local congregations, annual conferences and around the world to bring peace and justice to people in need of hope. Our giving goes toward effecting change that could change the world.
Here are a few examples of how our gifts change lives.
Justice for Our Neighbors in Southeastern Michigan and Southern Florida provides free and low-cost immigration legal services, education and advocacy for some of our most vulnerable residents.
A peace with justice initiative in Austin, Texas, strives to find jobs for people traditionally considered unemployable.
In Brussels, young adults run the European Ecumenical Youth Council. The goal – understanding and tolerance among young people – focuses especially on the diversity within the European identity.
In the Philippines, displaced young mothers, through training and education, escape poverty and gain financial independence.
Truly, our generous gifts on Peace with Justice Sunday share Christ's love!
OFFERTORY PRAYER
God of peace, may we be a generous people, moved to act in love with the power of hope and guided by the Spirit so that we may work against the injustice in the world. Amen.
NEWSLETTER NUGGET
Established by the 1988 United Methodist General Conference, Peace with Justice Sunday supports ministries that advocate peace and justice at home and around the world. Annual conferences retain half of the Special Sunday offering to fund local Peace with Justice programs. The other half goes to the General Board of Church and Society to help fund U.S. and global work in social action, public-policy education and advocacy.
We give in response to God's love, moving us to break the chains of injustice. John Wesley said, "Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money … to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind?"
On Peace with Justice Sunday, our gifts provide financial assistance to programs that include efforts to diminish the presence of violence, promote just policies in governments and organizations, restore communities affected by racial and ethnic injustice and promote economic development. Please give generously.